City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago

1. Principal details about Carl Otto’s morning come from a July 22 article in the CDT (in which his wife is interviewed) and from a special July 19 memorial issue of the Columns, the house publication of the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank. Weather details are from various local newspaper reports. The death toll from influenza had surpassed that of the war according to the January 9 edition of the CDN. Carl Otto’s reputation as a conscientious worker and the bank’s “all-around utility man” is from the Columns, p. 8. The bank’s president describes Monday as the bank’s busiest day on p. 3 of ibid. (NB: Although the Ottos’ son is referred to as “Daniel” in the above-mentioned CDT article, later newspaper reports and death notices identify the boy as “Stanley.”)

2. The movements of Earl Davenport were reported more widely in the Chicago papers—perhaps because, as a former sportswriter, he was personally known to local journalists. Most details come from the July 22 editions of the CHE, CEP, CDN, and CDT, the last of which quotes one of White City’s owners on Davenport’s genial personality. An editorial entitled “Earl Davenport” in the July 22 CEP (where Davenport was once a sportswriter) also speaks at length about Davenport’s sunny nature. Specifics about the amusement park itself come principally from the “White City” article in “Jazz Age Chicago: Urban Leisure from 1893 to 1945,” edited by Scott Newman (http://chicago.urban-history.org). The Wingfoot Express and its assembly at the White City aerodrome are described in Hansen, Goodyear Airships, pp. 1–3, and in Young, Chicago Aviation, pp. 17–20. “Like a kid with his first pair of red-top boots” was reported in the July 22 CDN article. Davenport’s tennis shoes and his eagerness to fly that day were attested to by blimp pilot Jack Boettner in the July 22 CHE.

3. Information about Roger J. Adams comes principally from two newspaper articles—the cited p. 1 interview in the July 21 CDN and an article in the July 22 CDT, in which Adams describes his movements of the day before. The “Blimpopolis” comment and other quotations in this section were recorded in the CDN piece. The Wingfoot’s departure time from the aerodrome was reported in a flight log printed in the CDT of July 22.

4. Milton Norton, as a CHE photographer, was naturally given much attention in that newspaper. The scene in the newsroom and exact quotations (“Have you got a cameraman ready?”) were described by Meissner in a July 23 article in the CHE. Reports of crowds around town watching the blimp’s first flight were reported in the July 21 CDJ, an afternoon paper that was hitting the streets just as the blimp was taking its final flight.

5. The account of the Wingfoot’s first two flights of the day derive mostly from pilot Boettner’s statement to Chicago chief of detectives Mooney, most completely reported in the July 22 CHE. (NB: In this statement Boettner refers to the first flight as having taken place “early in the morning,” but this is contradicted in other reports and in his later testimony to the state’s attorney and the coroner’s inquest jury.) In a bylined article in the July 22 CEP, writer George Putnam Stone (one of the two Post employees on the Wingfoot’s second flight) describes Davenport’s yielding Stone a place on the second flight but taking a place (with Milton Norton) on the third flight for himself. Boettner frankly admits his unfamiliarity with the experimental rotary engines in his testimony to the state’s attorney, most thoroughly reported in the CDT of July 22.

6. The CDJ of July 21 reported that twelve thousand people watched the Wingfoot’s first landing in Grant Park (see also the July 22 CHE). Several “experts” were quoted in the papers as having tried to get rides on the blimp (for example, in the CDT editions of July 22 and 23). Preston’s letter about the publicity value of giving rides on the blimp was first reported in the July 22 CDT (which cites Henry Ford’s being mentioned as a “desirable” passenger) and was later confirmed by Preston himself in his coroner’s inquest testimony, reported in the July 27 CDT (“It is desirable to secure prominent men on the first flight”). The scene between Boettner and Davenport (“a running start would be no good”) was recounted by Boettner in the July 23 CHE. The preparations for flying, including Weaver’s use of a blowtorch to burn off stray oil, were described in the July 22 CDT.

7. The angling of Davenport and Norton to get on the flight was reported in the CEP and CDT of July 22. The exchange between Boettner and the passengers about parachutes comes from Glassman, Jump!, p. 3.

8. The most complete existing description of the Wingfoot’s final flight is in Glassman, Jump!, pp. 31–46. I have also used some scene-setting details from the CEP reporter’s account of his ride on the blimp’s earlier takeoff and flight from Grant Park (CEP, July 22), and from the photos reproduced in Hansen, Goodyear Airships. The July 22 CHE describes the Wingfoot’s sailing out over the lake before turning back inland. That day’s CDT takes note of the day’s “faint but steady wind” and the appearance of the blimp from the ground. Other details are from Boettner’s inquest testimony, recounted in several papers.

9. For the overall description of Chicago’s appearance and geography in 1919, I have relied most heavily on Mayer and Wade, Chicago; Cutler, Chicago; Condit, Chicago 1910–29 (NB: the gatefold panoramic photograph on p. 90 was useful); and Duis, Challenging Chicago.

10. The citywide excitement caused by the sight of the Wingfoot was reported in several papers. Boettner’s account of the moments after seeing the fire above him (“Over the top, everybody”) was reported in the CDT of July 22.

11. The eyewitness accounts by Roger Adams (“I got there just as [the Wingfoot] went up again”) and Kletzker and Blake (“We went to the window to look again”) were reported in the July 22 CDT. The scene between Proctor and Lamson (“Exmoor and my Marmon are enough for me”) come from the same day’s CHE. Both the CDT and the CDJ of July 22 carried stories on the witnessing of the disaster from Comiskey Park (quotation from the CDJ).

12. The description of the men abandoning ship is culled from various newspaper accounts, the most complete being the story told by eyewitness R. R. Renisch, an architect in the nearby Insurance Exchange Building (“like a rocket”), which was reported in the July 22 CDT. Boettner’s fall was described by the pilot himself in his testimony to police chief John J. Garrity (see the same July 22 CDT) and in his testimony to the coroner’s inquest jury (reprinted in the July 25 CDN). Specifics on Davenport’s unsuccessful attempt to jump are from the July 23 CHE.

13. The scene inside the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank in the moments before the disaster are best described in the Columns, pp. 3–5, 16. The July 23 CHE (which also mentioned the departure of bank president Mitchell) contains a good description of the bank’s interior. Helen Berger is described (with picture) in the Columns, p. 9; on p. 16 her conversation with Callopy is referred to. Cooper’s movements just before the crash were described by him in the July 22 CDT.

14. The change in light as the blimp fell toward the skylight was observed by several bank employees, including Harriet Messinger (July 22 CDT) and Helen Durland (July 22 CDN). The initial ignition of the blimp’s fuel suggested a photographer’s flash to Maybelle Morey and Maria Hosfield (July 22 CHE). Cooper’s story (“The body of a man”) was reported in the July 22 CDT. Joseph Devreaux (“I thought a bomb had been exploded”) and A. W. Hiltabel (“The first thing I heard was the breaking of the skylight”) were quoted in the July 22 CDN.

15. The scene with Carl Otto and Edward Nelson was described by Nelson himself (“an avalanche of shattered window panes and twisted iron”) in the July 22 CDN. C. C. Hayford’s story (“I ran out and an explosion … hurled me over”) comes from the same day’s CDT. The scene in the bank’s central court (“a well of fire”) is from a Mr. Connors quoted in the July 22 CDN. The quote from Joseph Dries (“I saw women and men burning”) is from the July 22 CDT. Hosfield’s experience (“I was sitting next to Helen Berger”) is from the same day’s CHE, while William Elliott’s (“She was saturated with gasoline”) is from that day’s CDT.

16. The scene on the street (firemen unable to enter, people pouring from windows and wandering the streets) was best described in the July 22 CDT (which cited the twenty thousand spectators who had gathered in the southern Loop). Woodward’s account (“When I got to the street”) is from the same article. The men helping photographer Norton were described in the July 22 CHE.

17. Boettner’s descent from the Board of Trade Building and his arrest were recounted by him in the July 22 CDT. Friends and relatives searching among the charred bodies on the street is from the July 22 CDN and CHE. Editorials in several papers over the following days, as well as statements from various city officials, raised questions about the audacity of carrying on “experiments in flying” over “the helpless heart of a crowded city” (July 22 CEP).

CHAPTER ONE: THE NEW YEAR 1919

1. Glimpses of the New Year’s Eve festivities throughout Chicago come from the December 31, 1918, and January 1 editions of the CHE, CEP, CDN, and CDT. The slushy weather conditions were especially well described in a January 1 CDT article (“Slop, Slop, Slop; Six Days of It, More on the Way”). (NB: Thomas G. and Virginia Aylesworth, in their Chicago, p. 59, claim that the word “jazz” was coined at the Lamb’s Café in Chicago in 1914.) Curly Tim’s song about the “lemonade tree” was reported in a CDT article of January 1 (“Barrel House Bon Vivants Cheer Year In”).

2. “This year, the holiday breathes peace and contentment,” from the January 1 CDN. The drop in crime (reported in the CDN of December 31, 1918) probably had more to do with the high employment of wartime than with any special effort of the police department. Chicago’s experience with the Spanish influenza is documented in “Report of an Epidemic of Influenza in Chicago Occurring During the Fall of 1918” by Robertson in Report and Handbook of the Department of Health of the City of Chicago for the Years 1911 to 1918 Inclusive, pp. 40–41. Misguided hopes for the salubrious social effects of Prohibition are described in Behr, Prohibition, pp. 82ff.

3. The literature on the Plan of Chicago is extensive. Most useful to me were Smith, Plan of Chicago; Bachin, Building the South Side; and Whitehead, Chicago Plan Commission. “A practical, beautiful piece of fabric out of Chicago’s crazy quilt” is a quote from Walter D. Moody cited in Bachin, Building the South Side, p. 197. The idealistic hopes of the plan’s advocates are best described in Smith, Plan of Chicago, pp. 14–15. “The visions that once seemed only heart-breaking mirages” is from the January 1 CDT.

4. Two excellent sources for conditions in Chicago as they existed at this precise time are Showalter, “Chicago Today and Tomorrow,” and Smith, “The Ugly City,” the latter of which is the source of “hurried, greedy, unfastidious folk.” Henry Justin Smith also cowrote (with Lloyd Lewis) a very readable history of the city—Chicago: A History of Its Reputation—from which other facts and descriptions in these two paragraphs derive (see especially pp. 323–24).

5. Governor Lowden’s proclamation—“The new year beholds a new world”—was cited in the January 1 CDT. Emily Frankenstein’s unpublished diary, covering parts of the years 1918–20, is in the collection of the Chicago History Museum (Emily Frankenstein Papers). Background information about the diary and the Frankenstein family can also be found in Klapper, Jewish Girls Coming of Age in America, and Steinberg, Irma, the latter about Emily’s mother, also a conscientious diarist.

6. Victor Lawson is the subject of a thorough but somewhat tedious biography, Victor Lawson: His Time and His Work by Charles H. Dennis. His broken foot is covered in the bio on pp. 433–34, but his New Year’s Eve in bed comes from letters he wrote (to Marion K. Bradley and to Mrs. Iver N. Lawson, both on January 6, and to Julius Rosenwald on January 23), which are preserved in the Victor F. Lawson Papers (series 1, box 18) at the University of Chicago. Lilian Sandburg’s details are from various sources, including Penelope Niven’s biography of her husband, Carl Sandburg: A Biography, and A Great and Glorious Romance: The Story of Carl Sandburg and Lilian Steichen by their daughter Helga Sandburg; the “lonesome day” on New Year’s Eve is described in the latter book, p. 259. For Ring Lardner I have relied principally on Yardley, Ring. However, the details and descriptions here (“Two young men were lying on the floor”) come from Lardner’s column “In the Wake of the News” in the January 1 CDT.

7. “Hundreds of orchestras ushered in the new year” and “shouting and hammering and singing” are from the January 1 CDT, which also reported on the two accidents, the car thefts, and John Foll’s arrest. Emily’s “cold-slippery-tired” ride on the L is from her diary.

8. Events of the first two weeks of January are from various newspapers. Charles Comiskey’s announcement and quotes (“The loyal patrons of the White Sox”) were covered by the January 1 NYT and all of the Chicago dailies. Garrity’s one thousand new policemen and the state tax cut were announced in the CDT of January 2 and 1, respectively. Chicago’s observance of Roosevelt’s death was covered widely in all of the local newspapers. The “mighty, roaring, sweltering” description of Chicago comes from Edna Ferber’s delightful novel So Big, p. 311.

CHAPTER TWO: THE MAYOR ANNOUNCES

1. Accounts of the rally at Arcadia Hall appeared in the January 15 editions of the CDT, CDN, and CHE, but the most thorough (if not the most objective) report was in the January 18 issue of the Republican, a weekly newspaper that served as a mouthpiece for the Thompson-Lundin political machine. The physical description of Arcadia Hall is derived from the building’s entry on the Jazz Age Chicago site, http://chicago.urban-history.org/.

2. Specifics of the evening’s program of music and speeches are primarily from the Republican and other newspaper reports. The campaign song (“Over here we have a leader”) was reprinted in its entirety in the Republican. “The best administration in its history” was quoted, with some implicit irony, in the CDT of September 15.

3. There have been four book-length biographies of William Hale Thompson, ranging in attitude toward their subject from the admiring to the derisive. Two were written by authors who personally witnessed the mayor’s first and second terms. John Bright’s Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson: An Idyll of Chicago is utterly condescending and dismissive, treating the mayor as a quaint political curiosity with few redeeming qualities—a view propounded by many newspapers of the day and all too often adopted uncritically by later Chicago historians. William Stuart’s The 20 Incredible Years, written by a political columnist for Hearst’s Chicago American, errs in the other direction, often presenting Thompson and Fred Lundin’s propaganda as the unvarnished truth. A more balanced portrait is presented in Lloyd Wendt and Herman Kogan’s Big Bill of Chicago, though its coauthors, like Bright, give much greater emphasis to the colorful media phenomenon than to the crafty politician. By far the fairest and most serious account is Douglas Bukowski’s Big Bill Thompson, Chicago, and the Politics of Image, which is the only biography that does full justice to the mayor’s complexities. Specifics about Big Bill’s physical appearance and personality in this chapter come mainly from these four biographies and from the Thompson profiles in White, Masks in a Pageant; Luthin, American Demagogues; and contemporary newspaper and magazine articles. “Loved Chicago like a boy loves his dog” is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 68.

4. Bukowski is particularly insightful on Thompson’s appeal to blue-collar Chicago (while not being particularly pro-labor) in 1919; see the introduction to Big Bill Thompson as well as the same author’s PhD thesis, “According to Image: William Hale Thompson in the Politics of Chicago, 1915–1931,” pp. 1–10, and his chapter on Thompson in Green and Holli, Mayors, pp. 61–81. “Slangy, vulgar, and alive” is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 3. “I have been requested by petition” is from the Republican’s reproduction of the text. “Big, boozy, bellowing” roar is from White, Masks in a Pageant, p. 485.

5. In later years—as was common in the early twentieth century—Thompson often lopped two years off his age by citing his birth year as 1869. Some people, including Bright and Stuart, apparently believed him.

6. The State Street Bridge incident is reported in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 17–18. They are also the best source for details about Thompson’s childhood, youth, and early cowboy years.

7. For the account of Thompson’s pre-political life, I have relied most heavily on—in addition to the four mentioned biographies—White, Masks in a Pageant; Luthin, American Demagogues; Leinwand, Mackerels in the Moonlight; Thompson’s entry in the Dictionary of American Biography; and the CDT’s premature obituary for Thompson, published in error in 1931 and reprinted by Thompson in the campaign booklet A Tragedy with a Laugh.

8. The Jenney incident (“This money says Bill Thompson is scared!”) is from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 33.

9. The account of Thompson’s announcement speech (“An examination”) comes principally from the text as reprinted in the Republican of January 18. Much of the text is illegible in the surviving microfilm, however, so I have supplemented it with quotations cited by the other newspaper accounts of the Arcadia Hall speech (particularly that in the CDT) and with excerpts from Thompson’s standard stump speech for the 1919 campaign as recorded by a stenographer in the employ of Victor Lawson (Victor Lawson Papers, series 4, box 125, folder 828: “Mayor William Hale Thompson—Speeches 1919”).

10. The listing of Thompson’s achievements comes from the text in the Republican, as are the quotations in this section (“with less revenue” and “I know that a vast majority of the people”).

11. Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 4, explicitly makes the point that Thompson played politics as an extension of sports. “I’m spending $175 a day” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 41.

12. Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, pp. 13–14, has the best account of the politics behind Thompson’s aldermanic misadventures. “No one’s going to beat Bathhouse” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 49.

13. Fred Lundin’s history and peculiarities are described in the four Thompson biographies (Bright devotes a whole chapter to him). But some of the best material comes from Zink, City Bosses in the United States, and from Eric R. Lund, “Swedish-American Politics and Press Response: The Chicago Mayoral Election of 1915” in Anderson and Blanck, Swedish-American Life in Chicago: Cultural and Urban Aspects of an Immigrant People, 1850 to 1930. “Get a tent” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 49, as is “He may not be too much on brains,” p. 77.

14. “The Five Friends” and their political ambitions are best outlined in Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, pp. xv, 1–4. The author claimed (in 1935) that the plan had never before been revealed in print. “A thrust for power never before attempted” is from ibid., p. 1.

15. Quotations and paraphrased assertions in this section come from the speech transcripts in the Victor Lawson Papers (box 125, folder 828) and from the text as printed in the Republican of September 18.

16. The Tribune’s observation about Thompson being the mouthpiece, with Lundin supplying the song, is quoted in Lund, “Swedish-American Politics.” The unique symbiotic quality of the Thompson-Lundin relationship, with the Poor Swede controlling his protégé from behind the scenes, is accepted by virtually all writers on the topic, though Stuart and Bukowski give Thompson more credit for being an independent thinker.

17. The scene at the Auditorium Theatre is best described in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 10, and in Lovett, “ ‘Big Bill’ Thompson of Chicago,” p. 380. “I could no longer hold out agin ’em” is quoted in an unpublished lecture by Merriam, “Analysis of Some Political Personalities I Have Known,” p. 4. The most thorough account of the long odds against Thompson in the 1915 election come from Shottenhamel, “How Big Bill Thompson Won Control of Chicago,” p. 33.

18. For newspaper reaction to Thompson’s candidacy, see especially O’Reilly, “Colonel Robert Rutherford McCormick,” p. 68ff. Lawson’s judgment of Thompson as “simply impossible” is from Schmidt, “Chicago Daily News and Illinois Politics, 1876–1920,” p. 101. “Just who is this Bill Thompson?” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 101.

19. Thompson’s campaign promises as per Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 95, 103, and elsewhere. “You’re going to build a new Chicago with Bill Thompson!” is from ibid., p. 93.

20. “When in doubt, give a parade” is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 69. Election results as per Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 16. “Hoorah for Bill!” “Fred, you’re a wizard,” and other quotations in Thompson headquarters on election night are from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 114. “In six months we’ll know” is from ibid., p. 122.

21. “Between the people, on the one hand” is from a Thompson speech quoted in the CDT of January 18. “If continued in the office of mayor” is from the text in the Republican of January 15. “The audience stood on its feet” is from the same article.

CHAPTER THREE: ENEMIES

1. The Landis demurral (“I would just as soon have you ask me to clean a shithouse”) is quoted in Watkins, Righteous Pilgrim, p. 177.

2. Merriam’s life and work is most completely discussed in Karl, Charles E. Merriam and the Study of Politics. For the progressives’ preference for middle-class, educated experts over working-class ethnic politicians who might share the same goals, see Lissak, Pluralism and Progressives, p. 66. The Jane Addams quotations are from her endorsement in the Charles E. Merriam Papers, section 3, box 75, folder 5. Merriam’s attacks on Thompson are from ibid., section 3, box 76, folder 5.

3. The most complete source for details about Olson is Willrich, City of Courts. “Thanks to Mayor Thompson” is from the CDT of February 10. “They made the school treasury” is from the CDT of February 5. The list of scandals outlined by Olson is summarized in Hoffmann, “Big Bill Thompson,” p. 18. “Have used the vast public expenditures” is from the CDT of February 8.

4. There have been many books devoted to an analysis of urban political machines. Most useful to me were Gosnell, Machine Politics, and Allswang, Bosses, Machines, and Urban Voters. “Ceaseless devotion” is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. xxii. See also Merriam, Chicago, p. 137.

5. “No mayor ever entered the City Hall” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 120.

6. Thompson’s letter about the “fair manner” with which the Trib treated him, reproduced in the CDT of April 7, 1915, is cited in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 37. The scene beginning “Victor Lawson listened” is recounted in Dennis, Lawson, pp. 318–19.

7. “We’re going to drive every crook” is quoted in Luthin, American Demagogues, p. 84. “No shadow of corruption” is cited in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 120.

8. “I’m not going to let them leave” and the model boat incident is from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 125. “I am here to emphasize the grief and indignation” is cited in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, pp. 41–42. The popularity of “Big Bill hats” after the Eastland disaster is noted by Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 19.

9. “Here it is. You play with it” is from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 126. “A roster of his nearest and dearest friends” is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 68. The discontent over appointments is best summarized in Chenery, “Fall of a Mayor,” p. 37. Chicagoans’ mistrust of their hometown papers is cited in Shottenhamel, “How Big Bill Thompson Won Control of Chicago,” p. 40.

10. Lundin’s early image maneuvering and machine building is recounted in an article on the Poor Swede in the CDT of March 31. See also Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 16. “To the people of Chicago” is quoted by Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 51. “Unscrupulous politicians should be thwarted” is cited in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 143. The suicide note was printed in the CDT and CDN editions of April 3, 1916.

11. “The people don’t want it” is from a diary kept by Max Loeb, quoted in the CDT of September 1, 1918.

12. “Chicago is the sixth largest German city” is cited ubiquitously, as in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 151. They also cite “This war is a needless sacrifice” on p. 155.

13. “I think that Mayor Thompson is guilty of treason,” “a disgrace to the city,” and “a low-down double-crosser” are cited in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 156–57.

14. Big Bill’s response to his attackers is best described in Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 50ff. The results of the primary vote come from ibid., p. 56. Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 118, and Luthin, American Demagogues, p. 87, discuss the unpopularity of the war among Chicago’s ethnic groups. The analogy with Lincoln’s loss to Douglas was made in the Republican of September 21, 1918.

15. Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, pp. 4, 17ff., has the best discussion of Thompson’s shifting image over the course of his first term and his turn away from the increasingly powerless reform element and toward immigrants and workers.

16. “Who are the other two candidates” is from the Republican of February 22.

17. Thompson’s invitation to debate was reported in the CDT of January 25 and 26. The February 11 confrontation was widely covered, with slightly varying details, in most of the papers. I have relied most heavily on the account in the CDT of February 12, from which the quotations in this paragraph come.

18. “FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS!” is from a Thompson campaign letter collected in the Charles E. Merriam Papers, series 3, box 75, folder 3.

CHAPTER FOUR: THE FOURTH ESTATE

1. There have been several biographies of Robert R. McCormick, the most complete of which is Smith, Colonel. Also useful (and often more sardonic) are Gies, Colonel of Chicago, and Morgan and Veysey, Poor Little Rich Boy. McCormick’s accent as per Gies, Colonel of Chicago, p. 8ff. Tribune book critic Burton Rascoe’s memoir, Before I Forget, provides an unforgettable portrait of the Colonel (see pp. 8 and 267 for details on his dogs and his rooftop polo practice). McCormick’s height is from his entry in the Dictionary of American Biography. “Working for McCormick is a little like working for God” is quoted in O’Reilly, “Colonel Robert Rutherford McCormick,” p. 3.

2. The authoritative biography of Lawson is Dennis, Lawson. Third-largest-circulation newspaper as per ibid., p. 140. The firing of the pressman is also from ibid., p. 29, as is Lawson’s habit of testing advertisers’ claims, p. 137. “A man of mental and moral poverty” is quoted in ibid., p. 321.

3. “Some newspapers” is from a Thompson campaign booklet in the Charles E. Merriam Papers, series 3, box 75, folder 3. The two newspaper “scandals” are widely reported in the biographies and elsewhere. Lawson discusses the tax bill issue in correspondence in the Victor F. Lawson Papers, series 4, box 125, folder 827. “Robbing the school children” and “tax dodger” are from Thompson stump speeches transcribed in ibid., folder 828.

4. The two quotations in this paragraph are from a letter from Lawson to Arthur Brisbane dated March 13 (Victor F. Lawson Papers, series 1, box 74).

5. “Mayor’s Men Panicky Over Swing to Olson” was in the CDN of February 10. “I think ‘stocks are up’ ” is from a letter from Lawson to E. D. Hulbert on February 15 (Victor F. Lawson Papers, series 4, box 117, folder 784).

6. A roundup of the various parades and celebrations for returning soldiers was published in the 1919 Chicago Daily News Almanac, p. 804. Emily Frankenstein’s reactions to the soldiers are in her diary for January 7 and January 13 (Emily Frankenstein Papers). The CDN was particularly concerned about employment prospects for the troops; see two articles in the January 28 edition. The CDT carried a story about soldiers hooting at Thompson, for instance, on February 16.

7. “The Case Against Thompson” was in the February 21 edition of the CDN. “[Thompson] has failed in everything that could be hoped for him” comes from the CDT of February 23.

8. “Actions speak louder than words” and the scene at the Monroe Street Bridge were reported in the CDN of February 22. “Bill grabbed the Chicago Plan and raced away with it like a gridiron star” is quoted in Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 25.

9. The deployment of soldiers by all three candidates was reported in the CHE of February 25. The Thorpe incident is ubiquitously covered (e.g., Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 166; Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 154; and in most of the newspapers); not all accounts are identical, but I have relied most heavily on the report from the CDN of February 24 and the CHE of February 25.

10. Olson’s allegations of a “citywide plot” were reported in the CA of February 26. Election vote counts are from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 156. Ibid., p. 150, was also the source of the quote about all “who had eyes to see and ears to hear.” The February 26 edition of the CHE noted Merriam’s loss in his own district.

11. “Our cause is crowned with victory” is reprinted in the CHE of February 26. “We beat them today and we’ll beat them on April 1!” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, 167.

12. Details of the early-morning bombing on February 28 are from the CDT of the same date.

CHAPTER FIVE: A BOMB IN THE NIGHT

1. Most details about the Indiana Avenue bombing are from an article in the CDT of February 28. (Significantly, the incident was not covered by most of the other daily papers, although the CDN did run a captioned photograph of the damage.) For my description of the interior and exterior damage, I have relied on two photos reprinted in William M. Tuttle Jr.’s excellent Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919, p. 177. “The violent result of prejudice against the Negro inhabitants” was quoted in the CDT article of February 28.

2. For details about the earlier bombings, see Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 175–6.

3. Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 160ff., gives a good background of the early black settlement of Chicago. For information about Chicago’s role in the Great Migration, I have also relied heavily on Grossman, Land of Hope, and Spear, Black Chicago. Two excellent works on the topic appeared in 2010—Berlin, Making of African America, and Wilkerson, Warmth of Other Suns—though neither focuses on Chicago or on the early stage of the Great Migration relevant here. For the wartime labor shortage and industry’s use of labor agents, see Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 82 and 87, respectively. “The land of suffering” is from ibid., p. 91. For other exhortations from the Chicago Defender, see Spear, Black Chicago, p. 134. “Anywhere north will do” is quoted in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 79.

4. The half-million figure is cited in the exhaustive report by the Chicago Commission on Race Relations (primarily authored by Charles S. Johnson) entitled The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot in 1919 (hereafter cited as TNIC), p. 602. Ministers transplanting entire congregations are cited in Sandburg, Chicago Race Riots, pp. 14–15. For the growth of Chicago’s black population, see Cohen, Making a New Deal, p. 35, and Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 66. “Every time a lynching takes place” is quoted in ibid., p. 86.

5. Chicago Defender circulation figures as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 212. For the growth of Chicago’s black metropolis, see Spear, Black Chicago, as well as Philpott, Slum and the Ghetto, and Baldwin, Chicago’s New Negroes. American Giants attendance as per Baldwin, Chicago’s New Negroes, p. 213. “The greatest experiment-station” is a quotation from Horace Bridges, president of the Chicago Urban League, cited in the Chicago Urban League’s 1920 Annual Report. “Half a Million Darkies” is quoted in TNIC, p. 530. “Black Man, Stay South!” and “a huge mistake” are cited in Spear, Black Chicago, p. 202. The offer of financial aid is according to ibid., p. 203.

6. For the Tribune on banjo-plucking blacks, etc., see Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 202. The Stroll is defined and described in Bachin, Building the South Side, p. 247, and in Baldwin, Chicago’s New Negroes, p. 25. For the moving of vice establishments into black neighborhoods, see Spear, Black Chicago, p. 25. Ibid., p. 24, also discusses why black housing was plagued by overcrowding and disrepair. For a discussion of the forces creating the downward spiral of black neighborhoods, see Garb, City of American Dreams, pp. 182ff. Sandburg, in Chicago Race Riots, pp. 12–13, discusses the issue of southern rural ways appearing inappropriate to more established urban dwellers.

7. Spear, Black Chicago, p. 36, cites strikebreaking as blacks’ only entry into many industries. The equation of the terms “Negro” and “scab” is cited in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 119; see also Sandburg, Chicago Race Riots, p. 52. The twelvefold increase in black stockyards workers as per Spinney, City of Big Shoulders, p. 169. Blacks’ suspicion of unions and the returning soldiers is noted in Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 18, 128. “You pay money and get nothing” is quoted in TNIC, p. 177.

8. The lack of residential construction during war is cited in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 168. The Black Belt as home to 90 percent of the city’s black population is from Cohen, Making a New Deal, p. 34. The factors governing the southward growth of the Black Belt are mentioned in Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 167–68. (NB: Most people moving into white neighborhoods were middle-class, established blacks escaping encroaching vice, as per Spear, Black Chicago, p. 150.)

9. For the early peaceful efforts to stop integration, see Spear, Black Chicago, p. 211. “Clear of undesirables” is quoted in ibid., p. 210. The efforts to keep neighborhoods “lily white” are discussed in Travis, Autobiography of Black Politics, pp. 66–67, and Philpott, Slum and the Ghetto, p. 162ff. “Look out; you’re next for hell” and “We are going to BLOW these FLATS TO HELL” are quoted in Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 175–76. “Attempted assault and murder” is from the CD of June 1, 1918, as quoted in Spear, Black Chicago, p. 212.

10. Black vs. white voter registration figures are from Gosnell, Negro Politicians, p. 17; see also Spear, Black Chicago, p. 192. For Chicago as the first northern city in which blacks made up a significant portion of the population, see Allswang, Bosses, Machines, and Urban Voters, p. 92. “The strongest effective unit of political power” is from Sandburg, Chicago Race Riots, p. 5. Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 16, claims that this was the first municipal playground in the country; Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 42, says it was the first in the city. “White people from nearby came over” is quoted in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 14. “My task is not easy” is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, pp. 87–88.

11. “I’ll give you people the best opportunities” is quoted in Spear, Black Chicago, p. 187. The Second Ward’s black voters giving Thompson his winning margins is from Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 186.

12. See Stovall, “Chicago Defender in the Progressive Era,” p. 170, for an assessment of how truly beneficial Thompson’s election was for blacks. For De Priest as the first African American alderman, see Spear, Black Chicago, p. 187. Other jobs for Wright, Anderson, and Carey is from Spear, Black Chicago, p. 124, and Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 196. The doubling of the number of black police as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 232. Thompson’s banning of the movie The Birth of a Nation is from Spear, Black Chicago, p. 124, and Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 189.

13. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and Thompson’s backing down on the physician appointment are from Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 49. “The persons appointed were qualified” is from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 168. “Blubbering jungle hippopotamus” reference is quoted in Bergreen, Capone, p. 416.

14. “The best friend politically” is from the CD of October 2, 1918. “He has treated us fairly” is from ibid., September 7, 1918.

15. The bombing of Jesse Binga’s offices and the scene (with quotations) involving the little girl on the street were described in the CDT of March 20.

16. The rise in crime and the figures for the first twenty days of March are from the CA of March 22.

17. Ida B. Wells-Barnett is the subject of several excellent biographies, the most complete and authoritative being Giddings, Ida. Also useful are Schechter, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and American Reform; McMurry, To Keep the Waters Troubled; and Sterling, Black Foremothers. Wells-Barnett herself wrote two revealing autobiographical works, Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells and Crusade for Justice. “Mother protector” is quoted in Schechter, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and American Reform, p. 141. “A slanderous and nasty mulatress” was quoted in Sterling, Black Foremothers, p. 91. The story of the C&O train incident and the quotation (“hooked her feet under the seat”) are from Giddings, Ida, pp. 62–63. Mob of “leading citizens” and the hanging threat as per Sterling, Black Foremothers, p. 83. “They had destroyed my paper” is from Wells-Barnett, Crusade for Justice, pp. 62–63.

18. Working with Jane Addams as per Deegan, Race, Hull-House, and the University of Chicago, p. 78. “Mother, if you don’t go” is quoted in Sterling, Black Foremothers, p. 106. “Lighthouse” and a black version of Hull House is from Wells-Barnett, Crusade for Justice, p. 101. Wells-Barnett’s appearance is from Giddings, Ida, p. 65. “She walked as if she owned the world” is from the very useful supplementary materials in Wells-Barnett, Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells, p. 196. “One spot in this entire broad United States” is from the Alpha Suffrage Record of March 18, 1914, as quoted in Wells-Barnett, Crusade for Justice, pp. xxviii–xxix.

19. The meeting of the Negro Fellowship League and its subsequent statement (“a willful and malicious libel”) were described in the CDT of March 25.

CHAPTER SIX: ELECTION

1. Sweitzer’s ties to local gas interests as per Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 26ff. “Iron-jawed Irishman” is from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 143. Hoyne’s previous lack of interest in the vice issue is asserted in Lindberg, To Serve and Collect, p. 145, n. 21. “The fire department will be my special delight” and other Lardner quotes here are from his column in the CDT of March 5.

2. “Ruin the Republican Party for years to come” is quoted in the CDN of February 4. On the tendency of Chicago Republicans to unite after even the most contentious primaries, see especially Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 94.

3. “None of the mayoral candidates” is in a letter from Lawson to Arthur Brisbane dated March 24. “Sweitzer can beat him; Hoyne can’t” is in an earlier letter from Lawson to Brisbane dated March 13 (both in the Victor F. Lawson Papers). “The Thompson-Sweitzer issue was fought out four years ago” is from the CDT of March 3.

4. Darrow’s quote is from an article he wrote for the CDT of March 23. “He disgraced Chicago” is from the CDT of March 6. Other denunciations of Thompson’s antiwar sentiments were cited in, for instance, the CDT of March 3, 22, 23, 26, and 27. “A guy was ashamed to acknowledge that he was from Chicago” was quoted in the CDN of March 1. “Honestly, I believe if that big fat Bolshevik crook” is from a letter, dated March 2, from First Sergeant Alfred B. Backer of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace to “Dear Folks” (unidentified photocopy in the research files of Douglas Bukowski).

5. For Lundin’s focus on the black, Irish, and German vote, see Leinwand, Mackerels in the Moonlight, p. 38, and Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 168. “Damn him, we know he’s no good” is quoted in Davis, “Portrait of an Elected Person,” p. 177. For Thompson’s campaigning on national issues, see Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 170. For Thompson’s appearance before the “Old Eighth,” see the CD of February 22 (“You have come back decorated”); see also Ovington, Walls Come Tumbling Down, pp. 142–43; and Aylesworth and Aylesworth, Chicago, p. 11.

6. The background to the Illinois registration law is explained in the CDT of January 26.

7. Sweitzer’s advocacy of the emergency legislation was reported in the CDT of January 26. The passing of the Hughes bill 133–0 as reported in the CDT of March 21.

8. For the greatest sins in machine politics, see Allswang, Bosses, Machines, and Urban Voters, p. 23. See also George Washington Plunkitt’s dissertation on “Ingratitude in Politics” in Riordon, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, pp. 33–36.

9. The details about Lowden’s life come principally from his authorized biography, Lowden of Illinois, a thorough, generally fair, but perhaps slightly too admiring account by William T. Hutchinson. Garland’s characterization of the governor (“the look of an English earl”) is cited in ibid., p. 75. Lowden’s willingness to accommodate machine politics, when necessary, is conceded in ibid., p. 260. For the colloquy at Eagle Lake, see ibid., p. 265.

10. On the intricacies of Chicago’s taxing and bonding limitations and the resulting structure of overlapping “governments,” see Merriam, Parratt, and Lepawsky, Government of the Metropolitan Region of Chicago, particularly pp. xv and 20.

11. For Lowden’s overhaul of the state government’s administrative structure, see Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 314. “An endorsement from Thompson seemed almost equivalent to a blackball” is from ibid., p. 308.

12. “It was a hectic interview” and other quotes from that scene with Lundin come from Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 31.

13. Lowden’s flu was cited in his wife’s diary for 1919 in the Pullman-Miller Family Papers at the Chicago History Museum. Lowden’s signing of the Hughes bill was reported in the CHE of March 27 and the CDT of March 28.

14. The CDN of March 24 attributed the crime wave to “criminal politics” in city hall. “It is impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of the situation” was quoted in the CDN of March 24. The plot whose object was “the overthrow of the government of the United States” was reported in the CHE of March 11. For the Bolshevik squad, see Bukowski, “According to Image,” p. 146.

15. The election bettors “awaiting next week’s developments” as per the CHE of March 23. The Tribune plea (sometimes mistakenly described in the literature as a countersuit) is discussed in the CDN and CDT of March 26. The prediction that Sweitzer would run away with the election was reported in the CDN of March 25. Ring Lardner’s column about dropping out of the race and running for king appeared in the CDT on April 5.

16. The scene at the Pekin Theatre, with quotations, was reported in the CDT of March 25.

17. “Never, on the eve of a Chicago mayoralty election” is from the NYT of March 30. “Downtown Chicago stood on its head” is from the CDT of March 30. The “hurling of stink bombs” was reported in the CHE of April 1. “Whenever [Mayor Thompson] drew up at the curb” is from the CDT of March 30.

18. The prediction of four hundred thousand total votes and the “general belief that party lines were [being] thrown to the wind” were in the CDN of April 1. Schmidt, in “Chicago Daily News and Illinois Politics,” p. 144, claims that the CDN cited Cook County’s ballot as the longest in the world. The account of Irma Frankenstein’s voting experience is from her diary (Irma Rosenthal Frankenstein Papers, box 3, folder 20).

19. Election figures are from Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, pp. 16 and 73.

20. “Truth and justice have again prevailed” was quoted in the CDJ of April 1.

21. “Chicago’s Shame!” as reported in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 171. “It is difficult for outsiders to understand” and other quotes are from the NYT of April 3. “He becomes a minority mayor” is from the CDN of April 2. “Negroes Elect ‘Big Bill’ ” comes from the CDJ of April 1. For white resentment of black voting power as demonstrated in this election, see especially Rudwick, Race Riot at East St. Louis, p. 220.

22. “I have been maligned” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 171. The lack of a congratulatory note from Lowden is described in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 207.

CHAPTER SEVEN: ON THE WARPATH

1. “Re-Election Starts Mayor on Warpath” and subsequent quotes are from the CDN of April 2.

2. “Thompson Men Plan to Extend Rule in State” and the power over Lowden’s presidential hopes now held by Thompson are from the CDT of April 3. “Mayor Thompson let it be known” is from the CHE of April 3.

3. The Wheeler interview with Thompson and all quotes are reported in the CDT of April 2.

4. “A constructive program to boom Chicago” was quoted in the CDT of April 2. “Be a Chicago booster!” comes from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 172–73. “A new spirit must control public officials” is from a speech text in the Frank O. Lowden Papers, series 3, box 36, folder 10. “Unless it is one absolutely necessary” was quoted in the CHE of April 28.

5. The text of Thompson’s address before the legislature was reprinted in the anonymously published “Catechism: The Truth About Chicago’s Financial Condition,” pp. 16 and 22. For the success of Thompson’s plea and the reference to Lowden’s “delayed congratulations,” see the CDJ of April 29.

6. Baseball results are from the CHE of April 24 and 25. Lardner’s “I wished you could of [sic] seen” was in his column in the CDT of April 24. The opening of the White City Amusement Park was reported in the CEP of May 14. For the Wartime Prohibition Act, see Allen, Only Yesterday, pp. 14–15.

7. “My enemies have recently bored holes in the walls” is from an open letter “To the People of Chicago,” dated September 6, 1917, as quoted in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 66. The actual transcript of an eavesdropped conversation between Thompson and Lundin is in the former’s Justice Department file, memo of May 2, 1921 (9–19–1206–3). (NB: Thanks to Douglas Bukowski for lending me his copy of this now-destroyed file.) “Big enough to blow out the entire side” quoted in Allen, Only Yesterday, p. 35. For the bomb plot, see also the CDT of May 1.

8. The rise in cost of living as per Bachin, Building the South Side, p. 290. The most thorough and useful work on Sandburg is Niven, Carl Sandburg. Also helpful to me were Helga Sandburg’s account of her parents’ marriage, Great and Glorious Romance, and Yanella, Other Carl Sandburg, which is especially good on the poet’s early political work. “I believe there are some big, live feature stories” is from a May 31 letter from Sandburg to Smith in the Carl Sandburg Papers at University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (Connemara Collection, 3–019–072).

9. “I am with all rebels everywhere” is from an undated (late 1919) letter from Sandburg to Romain Rolland (Carl Sandburg Papers, Sandburgiana Collection, 11–1919). For the best account of the Finnish agent episode, see Yanella, Other Carl Sandburg, pp. 123–30. Also see ibid., p. 133, for Sandburg’s coverage of the AFL convention.

10. “A sorry world” is quoted in Smith, Colonel, p. 218. The protest of twenty-five thousand Jews was reported in the CDT of May 22. The June 8 gathering as per Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 96.

11. For the Frankensteins’ membership in the city’s long-established German-Jewish community, as well as the quotation “in literature, my schoolwork,” see Klapper, Jewish Girls Coming of Age in America, p. 40. For Emily’s visit to the Christian Science lecture and quotations (“So very, very few healthy, robust people”), see her diary for February 2 and 3 (Emily Frankenstein Papers).

12. All quotations in this section are from Emily Frankenstein’s diary entries for June 6, 1918; June 12, 1918; and an undated entry on page 198 of the diary (Emily Frankenstein Papers).

13. For the Ellis Avenue bomb, see the CDT of April 7. Other bombings are per a document in the Carl Sandburg Papers, “Interracial Situation in Chicago.” For the Harrison bombing, see Giddings, Ida, p. 595.

14. “Well, Negroes, you must get guns” is from the BA of April 5.

15. For the Barnetts’ new home on Grand Boulevard, see Wells-Barnett, Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells, p. 196. For the makeup of the committee and the incident at city hall, see Giddings, Ida, p. 595, and the BA of June 7. “He could not put all of the police in Chicago on the South Side” is quoted in Giddings, Ida, p. 595.

16. “No man is big enough” is from the NYT of April 11.

17. “Smiles, tears, hugs, [and] kisses” and “the greatest parade the old town ever saw” are from the CHE of May 28. Thompson’s absence from other homecoming parades was noted in the CDT of May 27.

18. The alleged incident with the boy at the parade (“Gee, he’s here!”) was reported in the CDT of May 28.

19. “I failed to see the Mayor’s stand” was quoted in ibid.

20. The Aurora incident and conversation was reported in ibid., June 28.

CHAPTER EIGHT: GOING DRY

1. Scenes from the June 30 debauch come principally from the CEP of July 1 (“bowing to the Board of Trade Building”). Garrity’s vow of “dire vengeance” on offending proprietors was reported in ibid., June 29. The incident of the stolen whiskey barrel is from ibid., July 1. (NB: Wartime Prohibition did allow consumption of near beer and other very low-alcohol beverages.)

2. “The biggest carnival night in the history of Chicago” was the opinion of the CHE of June 29. The $2 million estimate is from the CEP of July 1. The smaller crowds in the soft drink emporiums were reported in the CHE of July 7. “Slums will soon only be a memory” is quoted in Behr, Prohibition, p. 82.

3. The Colonel’s ample stash of whiskey as per Morgan and Veysey, Poor Little Rich Boy, p. 233. The fifteen thousand doctors and fifty-seven thousand retail druggists applying for licenses are cited in Nelli, Business of Crime, p. 151. Lardner’s recipe (“Take a glass of sweet cider”) is from the CDT of July 14. Alternative sources of alcohol as cited in Behr, Prohibition, p. 85.

4. The June 17 attack is discussed in Spear, Black Chicago, p. 213. The assault on the white principal is from Diamond, “Hoodlums, Rebels, and Vice Lords,” pp. 39–40. The fatality report is from the CHE of June 23. The Charles W. Jackson incident was reported in the CEP of July 1.

5. The Garfield Boulevard signs and the warning to “prepare for the worst” were mentioned in TNIC, p. 57. The July 4 upset in the Polish neighborhoods is discussed in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 96, and in Leinwand, Mackerels in the Moonlight, p. 33.

6. Sandburg “interviewing shopkeepers, housewives” is from Niven, Carl Sandburg, p. 336. “We made the supreme sacrifice” is quoted in ibid., p. 337.

7. Wells-Barnett’s letter (“There had been a half-dozen outbreaks”) was printed in the CDT of July 7.

8. The 250,000 striking Chicago workers as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 141. On p. 128, Tuttle describes the expiration of federal employment requirements. Individual strikes in Chicago are per ibid., pp. 138–39, and Taylor, “Epidemic of Strikes in Chicago,” pp. 645–46.

9. “The traction volcano” is from the CEP of July 15. The 50–1 margin for the strike vote was reported in the CHE of July 17.

10. “Frank is much concerned” is from Florence Lowden’s diary entry for July 19 (Pullman-Miller Family Papers). The official launch of Lowden’s campaign in Washington, D.C., as per the NYT of July 14. The admiring profile of Lowden appeared in the July 20 NYT.

11. Thompson’s citation of legal obstacles was reported in the CEP of July 15. The reaction of the president of the elevated railway employees (“That committee arbitrate?”) comes from the CEP of July 19.

12. “Most important meeting since the world’s fair days” is from the CEP of July 21. The “dream coming true” quotation is from ibid., July 19. “This bridge’ll bring property values around here up by the millions” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 172. (NB: Thompson was, of course, right, as Colonel McCormick would build his Tribune Tower a few blocks north of the bridge within a few years.)

13. Baseball details are from the CDT of July 20. Emily’s tribulations, with quotations, are from her diary, pp. 192–97 (Emily Frankenstein Papers).

14. Davenport’s offer of a blimp ride to the mayor, and Thompson’s response, as per the CEP of July 22. The mayor’s two meetings of the day as per the CEP of July 21. “The greatest day, barring none, in Chicago’s history” is from the CDT of July 22. “It marks a new era” is from the CDN of July 22.

CHAPTER NINE: TUESDAY, JULY 22

1. Details of the scene around the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank building on the morning after the crash, along with the quotation from John J. Mitchell (“Reports that we lost any money”), are from the CDN of July 22.

2. The violation of “all preconceived notions of safety” and the editorial (“That girls working at their desks in the security of a bank building”) are from the CEP of July 23 and 22, respectively.

3. “The most sensational tragedy” is from the CDN of July 22. “There seems little question that the flight was experimental” is from the CDT of July 23.

4. Maclay Hoyne’s arrest order was reported in the CDT of July 22 (the CDT of the next day amended the number of arrests from the seventeen originally reported to fourteen). All quotes in these two paragraphs are from the CDT of July 22.

5. Details and quotations from the city council meeting were reported in the CDT of July 22.

6. The scene at the Central Undertaking Rooms and the quotation from Mrs. Carl Weaver were recounted in the CHE of July 22.

7. The scenes at St. Luke’s Hospital involving Marcus Callopy’s family and Alice Norton are from the CDJ of July 22. Milton Norton’s deterioration overnight as per the CHE of July 23.

8. Carl Otto’s funeral as cited in the CDJ of July 22. The scenes with his wife at home and at the hospital, with quotations, were reported in two articles in the CDT of July 23.

9. Mrs. Davenport’s reaction to the news of her husband’s death, with quotations, was recounted in the CHE of July 23.

10. “All I can say is, I thought the end of the world had come,” was quoted in the CDT of July 22. The same edition is the source of the quotation from Maybelle Morey (“I was working in the bond department”). People (including several sportswriters and an alderman) who claimed that they were “almost” passengers on the fatal flight were noted in the CEP and CDT of July 22 and the CDJ of July 23.

11. “While the airship was still burning” is from the CDJ of July 22. The coroner’s inquest scene was described by columnist Louise Brown in the CEP of July 23. Hoffman’s somber announcement of Norton’s death as per the CHE of July 22.

12. For the mayor’s reaction to Lowden’s “interference” in the traction situation, see the CDJ of July 21. The characterization of the closed-door meetings as “star-chamber sessions” was in the CHE of July 22. The quotation from the mayor’s spokesman is from the CDJ of July 21.

13. The 60 percent fare hike as per the CDN and CDJ of July 22. “If our state constitution were properly constructed” is from the CHE of July 22. Thompson’s readiness to take the matter to court was cited in the CDJ of July 21.

14. The report on the circumstances of Janet Wilkinson’s disappearance is from the Chicago Department of Police Daily Bulletin for 1919, first made public on July 26 (in the Chicago Public Library’s Municipal Reference Collection, MRC Cc P766). Marjorie Burke’s account was reported in the CEP and CDN of July 23, and later recounted in more detail in the CDJ of July 26. Berenice Wilkinson’s was in the CDJ of July 23.

CHAPTER TEN: WEDNESDAY, JULY 23

1. The search for Janet Wilkinson was described in all of the daily papers, most usefully in the CDN of July 23 and the CHE of July 24, the latter noting the fifty volunteer boys and girls. The description of Janet is from the Police Daily Bulletin report cited on the previous page. The first published photo of Janet appeared in the CEP of July 23.

2. Marjorie Burke’s story as per the CDT of July 24. (NB: The CHE of July 23 initially misidentified the witness as Marjorie Dee, another of Janet’s friends.) The story of the previous incident with Janet and Fitzgerald was reported in the CDN and CEP of July 23.

3. Fitzgerald’s appearance and manner as described in the CDT of July 24, which also recounted Fitzgerald’s explanation of his movements before his arrest.

4. Fitzgerald’s previous arrests on larceny charges as per the CDJ of July 23 and the CDT of July 24. His earlier arrest for “conspicuous interest” in two girls comes from the CHE of July 24. The dropping of the case “for want of prosecution” was cited in the CDN of July 23.

5. Fitzgerald’s description of the earlier incident with Janet (“It was around Christmastime she came into my home”) was quoted in the CDT of July 24.

6. The dragging of the lake in response to Fitzgerald’s offhand comment was reported in virtually all of the newspapers; see also Lindberg, Chicago by Gaslight, pp. 198–99.

7. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office could not locate the transcript of the coroner’s inquest in the Wingfoot case, so I have had to rely on descriptions of the proceedings as reported in the newspapers. All of the quotations in these first paragraphs are from the CEP of July 23 and the CDT of July 24.

8. The various theories about the cause of the fire are from the CEP of July 23. Coroner Hoffman’s declaration on the requirements for establishing blame and the lack of precedent in Illinois law as per the CDT of July 24. “Which did not contemplate airships falling” is from the CDJ of July 22.

9. The quotations from Goodyear officials were quoted in the CEP of July 23. The rumors of damaging testimony from Wacker were cited in the CDT of July 24.

10. The funeral services for Marea Florence were described in the CDT of July 24. (NB: The CDT identified her as “Maria,” but the Columns, likely to be more accurate, has her first name repeatedly as “Marea.”) “If you ever saw her smile” was quoted in the Columns, p. 6. Marcus Callopy’s death as per the CDT of July 24 and the Columns, p. 13.

11. The quotations from W. S. McClenathan are from the CDJ of July 23. “Statements by both sides in each meeting today” is from the CDN of the same date. The CEP of July 24 reported the union leader’s reassurances that no strike would take place until the completion of the commission investigation.

12. The mayor’s preparations for his trip to Cheyenne were widely reported. “A lariat and a pair of chaps in his valise” comes from the CDT of July 24. The committee’s invitation “to bring everybody who voted for [the mayor]” was cited in the CDJ of July 23. “Well stocked with ice for lemonades” is from ibid. Ettelson as Samuel Insull’s creature as per McDonald, Insull, p. 178. The CEP of July 23 noted Thompson’s assurance that they’d be missing only two and a half working days.

1. For the union’s intransigence on the eight-hour-day issue, see the CDN of July 24. The CEP of July 24 reported on the Wingfoot funerals. The scene at the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank (“Not a typewriter clicked”) was described in the CDT of July 25.

2. Goodyear’s public apology was printed in the CEP of July 24. The formation of the three-man commission as per the CDT of July 25. “In justice to our men” is quoted in the CEP of July 24.

3. The CEP of July 24 describes Senator Sherman’s bill and the city council’s ongoing work on an aviation bill. “I am going to do everything I can to help establish laws for the regulation of airships” was quoted in the CDT of July 25.

4. The interrogation of Fitzgerald, with quotations, was recounted in the CDN and CEP of July 24.

5. The questioning of Watson and Darby and the phone call to Mrs. Fitzgerald as per the CDN of July 24. The CHE of the same date reported on Lieutenant Howe’s rushing of the photograph to Bangor.

6. Details and quotations from Howe’s afternoon interrogation of Fitzgerald are from the CDN of July 24.

7. The analysis of the case by Detective Sergeant Powers, with all quotations, are from ibid.

8. Reports of sightings of Janet, as well as the false alarm at the Morrison Hotel, come from the CDT of July 25.

9. The scenes with Muriel Fitzgerald come principally from the CHE (“The reports about his peculiarities”), the CDN (“You did it, you did it”), and the CDT (“When I received that telegram”), all of July 25. Mrs. Fitzgerald’s appearance as per pictures and descriptions in the CEP and CDJ of July 25 and the CDT of July 26.

10. The finding of the revolver at the Virginia Hotel, as well as Lieutenant Howe’s dispatching of a pair of detectives to Michigan, as per the CDT of July 25. Wilkinson’s offer of a $500 reward was cited in the CDN of July 24.

11. The reports of other attacks on children and the calls on Alcock to institutionalize all suspected “morons” come from the CDT of July 24 and 25.

CHAPTER TWELVE: FRIDAY, JULY 25

1. The description of the week’s weather in Chicago is from reports in the CDT. For the scene between Muriel Fitzgerald and John Wilkinson, I have relied principally on the CEP of July 25 (“Oh, Mr. Wilkinson”) and the CDJ of the same date (“When I [first] received word that my husband was in trouble”).

2. Helen Hedin’s story as per the CDT of July 26. “The Handcuff King” episode as per the CDN of July 25. “I’m not the man” was quoted in the CEP of July 25.

3. Lieutenant Howe’s statement (“In my 25 years of police experience”) and the account of the ongoing interrogation (“Look at that picture”) are from the CDN of July 25.

4. The continuing search for Janet was described in the CDT of July 26.

5. “For two days and two nights” is from the CDJ of July 24. “I had put [the] baby doll away from her” was quoted in the CDT of July 25.

6. The long quotation (“When [Mrs. Fitzgerald] entered the door”) is from the CDJ of July 25.

7. “I have ordered the arrest of all half-wits” was quoted in the CEP of July 25.

8. The aura of mistrust was reported in the CHE of July 26; see also the CDN of July 25.

9. The scene at the Wingfoot inquest was described by several papers, each of which published slightly different accounts of the testimony. “What this man [Lipsner] has to offer is hearsay” was quoted in the CEP of July 25. “Wacker told me that he was nervous and scared” is from the CDJ of July 25. “He said that the blimp acted up,” is from CDT of July 26. “Wacker said that Carl Weaver,” is from CDJ of July 25. “Produce the evidence,” is from CDN of July 25. Lowery’s threat to clear the room as per the CEP of July 25.

10. The exchange among Lipsner, Mayer, and Maranville as reported in the CDT of July 26.

11. O’Brien’s demand that Boettner testify next is from the CDN of July 25. Boettner’s attire as per a picture in the CDT of July 26, in which his manner of testifying was also described. “We had no trouble during our flights on Monday” as quoted in the CDN of July 25. The rest of his testimony as reported in that issue of the CDN and in the CDT of July 26.

12. Conflicting reports on the origin point of the fire as per the CDT of July 26.

13. Details and all quotations from the transit talks in these paragraphs come from the CDJ of July 25.

14. Lowden’s arrival in Chicago and his closed-door meetings as per the CEP of July 25 “It is understood that some progress toward reconciliation was made” is from the CHE of July 26. “Frank telephones [to say] that the streetcar situation is very bad” is from Florence Lowden’s diary entry for July 25 (Pullman-Miller Family Papers).

15. Sandburg’s articles for the CDN were later reprinted in his pamphlet The Chicago Race Riots. “Deplore Unfounded Negro Crime Tales” appeared in the CDN of July 25. The CDT reported on the two French analyses in its July 25 edition.

16. For the New Negro sensibility and the DuBois quotation, see Boskin, Urban Racial Violence in the Twentieth Century, p. 41, and Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 209. Claude McKay’s poem was published in the Liberator 2 (July 1919), cited in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 208.

17. “THE MAYOR SHOULD RETURN” was an editorial in the CEP of July 25. Big Bill’s cowboy outfit was described in the CDN of July 25. The rest of the details and quotations from Cheyenne were reported in the CDT of July 26.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: SATURDAY, JULY 26

1. “All Chicago Seeks Solution of Missing Child Mystery” was the headline in the CDN of July 26. The “biggest question” quotation and the four hypotheses are from the CDJ of July 26.

2. The additional $2,500 reward was announced in the CDT of July 27. The flood of calls, telegrams, and letters, and the Dearborn Station false alarm, were reported in the CEP of July 26.

3. The sister superior’s admonition and the dragging of the lake as per the CEP of July 26.

4. The discovery of bones in the sewer was reported by the CDT of July 27.

5. Evidence given by Marie Pearson and William Harris as cited in the CDT of July 27. That of W. J. Hogan is from the CEP of July 26. The scene with Michael Kezick, with quotations, was described in the CDT of July 27.

6. “Ordinarily, the arrest of a suspect” is from the CEP of July 26, which also took note of the lack of any formal charges against Fitzgerald and Lieutenant Howe’s backup plan.

7. The manner of Fitzgerald’s interrogation as per the CDT of July 28. The CEP of July 26 described the prisoner’s fit of weeping. The CDT of July 28 noted Fitzgerald’s teasing of Captain Mueller about his hat. “He is the most stubborn and one of the shrewdest men I have ever questioned” is from the CEP of July 26 and the CDT of July 27.

8. The bringing in of five North Side women and their daughters, as well as the order to police to look for “another moron,” were reported in the CDT of July 27.

9. The questioning of Major York as per the CEP of July 26.

10. H. T. Kraft’s testimony is from the CDT of July 27 (“You know it is possible to test a dirigible on the ground”) and the CDN of July 26 (the virtual impossibility of leaking hydrogen to ignite).

11. “I have made an effort to see Wacker” was quoted in the CDT of July 27. The complaints of the businessmen’s jury as per the CEP of July 26.

12. The profile of Carl Sandburg appeared in the CDT of July 26. The Lowden boom in Washington was reported in the CHE of July 27. Emily Frankenstein’s resolution to finally “say goodbye” to Jerry as per her diary for July 26 (Emily Frankenstein Papers).

13. The witnessing of Judge Dolan’s fall comes from reports in the CDJ and CDN of July 26 and the CDT and CHE of July 27. The quotations from the two witnesses on the seventh floor were from the CDJ.

14. The same four papers covered the aftermath of the apparent suicide, but again, all quotations (except “He seemed jolly and carefree,” which is from the CHE of July 27) come from the CDJ of July 26, which had the most complete coverage of the incident. For the Judges vs. Lawyers baseball game, see the CDT of June 11.

15. Afternoon temperatures as per the CDT of July 27 and Florence Lowden’s diary. “Negotiations are over” was quoted in the CDN of July 26. “Chicago is in for a streetcar strike” is from the CEP of July 26.

16. All of the daily papers had remarkably detailed reports on the culmination of Fitzgerald’s interrogation, the most complete being those in the CDT and CHE of July 28. All quotations in this section are from the former.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 27

1. The confession scene, with quotations, comes from the reports published in the CDT and CHE of July 28.

2. The scenes in the Chicago Avenue station and in the basement of the East Superior Street duplex, with quotations, are also as reported in ibid.

3. The CDT and CHE of July 28 also had the most thorough accounts of the crowds out on East Superior Street, though the shouts (“Lynch him!” “String him up!”) are as reported in the same day’s CEP.

4. All quotations in the taxicab scene are from the CHE of July 28, with additional details from the CDT and CEP of the same date.

5. The CEP of July 28 is my principal source for the scene back at the Chicago Avenue station. The reports of “ill-concealed weapons” as per the CHE of that date. That day’s CDT has an account of M. F. Sullivan’s interrogation of Fitzgerald. (NB: Among the inconsistencies cleared up was the fact that Marjorie Burke was mistaken about when Fitzgerald and Janet Wilkinson met on the street; it apparently happened before the girls’ trip to the playground, not after.) The July 28 CEP depicted Fitzgerald as “cool,” while the same day’s CDT described him as “a picture of control.” “Don’t let them hang me” and Hoyne’s appointment of James O’Brien (whose nickname “Ropes” was noted in the CDN of July 28) as per the CDT of that date.

6. “Acting Chief Alcock already has issued orders” is from the CEP of July 26. “This case should cause the people of Chicago to demand a special session of the legislature” was quoted in the CDT of July 28.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: SUNDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 27

1. The story of the five boys’ excursion to the Hot and Cold comes from Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 3–10. (NB: Tuttle interviewed John Harris in 1969.)

2. The account of the racial confrontation at the Twenty-ninth Street beach was reported by all of the newspapers, though I have relied most heavily here on the CEP of July 28. For this episode of the riot and for those that follow in subsequent chapters, I have relied on numerous other sources. The 1919 race riot has been extraordinarily well documented. The most comprehensive treatment, based on many months of field interviews conducted by a staff of researchers, is TNIC, the 650-page report of the Chicago Commission on Race Relations. Other important works on the topic, besides Tuttle, Race Riot, include Grossman, Land of Hope; Spear, Black Chicago; Philpott, Slum and the Ghetto; and Sandburg, Chicago Race Riots; as well as Grimshaw, Racial Violence in the United States; and Waskow: From Race Riot to Sit-in. Of the numerous essays and articles on the riot, Pacyga, “Chicago’s 1919 Race Riot,” collected in Mohl, Making of Urban America, deserves special mention for the light it casts on the ethnic and class aspects of the riot, often given short shrift by other works that emphasize the racial aspects exclusively.

3. All of the quotations in this section come from Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 6–7. (NB: According to TNIC, p. 4, the coroner later found no contusion or other indication that Eugene Williams had actually been hit by the rock; the coroner therefore concluded that the boy had died by drowning when he couldn’t reach shore because of the rock throwing. John Harris may indeed have embroidered the incident in his interview with Tuttle fifty years after the fact [the blood-in-the-water detail, for instance, may be a trick of memory]; however, it should also be noted that coroners at this time typically had little or no medical training [though some on their staff did], and even TNIC admits that “rumor had it that [Eugene] had actually been hit by one of the stones and drowned as a result.”) Officer Callahan’s retreat to a nearby drugstore as per the CEP of July 28.

4. The CDT of July 28 estimated the crowd at one thousand people. Exaggerated rumors as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 8. The white bathers who helped search for Eugene Williams were noted in TNIC, p. 5.

5. The shooting incidents are most thoroughly described in TNIC, pp. 5, 660. The CEP of July 28 identified the black policeman as Jesse Igoe. The escalation of the riot (“bubbling cauldrons of action”) was best described in the CDT of July 28.

6. For the reaction of the athletic clubs to the beach rioting, see Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 32–33. Richard J. Daley’s membership in the Hamburg Athletic Club is discussed in Cohen and Taylor, American Pharaoh, pp. 27–36. (NB: While there is no hard evidence that Daley participated in the rioting, as Cohen and Taylor write, “he was, at the very least, extremely close to the violence.”)

7. Some individual instances of violence were reported by only one or two newspapers. The locations of the major confrontations as per the CHE and CEP of July 28. The CDT of July 28 reported on the white crowds shooting at streetcars. The tapering off of violence overnight as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 34. The day’s toll of dead and injured as reported in the CDT of July 28.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: MONDAY, JULY 28

1. Mayor Thompson’s impromptu press conference at Union Station was covered most completely by the afternoon papers. The dialogue in this section comes from the CEP and the CDJ of July 28. Thompson’s telegram to Alcock, sent while in Cheyenne, was mentioned in the CDN of July 28.

2. Details of the car negotiations and the quotation from Governor Lowden come from the CDT of July 29. The CDN’s praise of Lowden appeared in an editorial in the July 28 edition.

3. Chief Garrity cited the number of police at 3,500; see TNIC, p. 36. The quotation from Michael Gallery is from the CEP of July 28. (NB: Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 34, differs on the exact wording.)

4. Chief Garrity’s qualms about the militia as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 35. For the most complete account of the People’s Council incident, see Thurner, “Mayor, the Governor, and the People’s Council.” “In case rioting should break out” is quoted in ibid., p. 137. “A treasonable conspiracy” and “Freedom of speech will be respected” are quoted in ibid., p. 138. Garrity’s announcement (“even if it becomes necessary to fill every jail in Chicago”) comes from Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 35.

5. Details in this paragraph come from various sources. For Fitzgerald’s suicide watch, see the CDT of July 29. For the overflowing crowds on the street, see the CDN of July 28. “Send him out here and we’ll hang him for you!” was quoted in the CEP of July 28. “You can never tell what will happen” was cited by the CDJ of July 28.

6. Each of the papers had a slightly different account of the very brief coroner’s inquest session. I have taken the quotations from the CEP of July 28.

7. The quotation from Hoyne and the announcement from Crowe are both from the CDN of July 28.

8. The quotations from O’Brien are from the CEP of July 28. That day’s CDN noted that he was wearing his hanging tie. “Fitzgerald may be a moron” is from the CDT of the same date.

9. The twenty-five incidents in Chicago that year as per the CDT of July 28. The next day’s edition of that paper cited the official’s estimate of two hundred cases per year. “There is but one solution to the whole problem” was quoted in the CDN of July 28.

10. The scene of Janet’s casket being carried into the duplex was described in the CDJ of July 28 and in the CDT of July 29. The CDN of July 29 noted that many mourners remained on the street through the night.

11. For the gangs of white youths waiting just outside the yards, see TNIC, p. 6. The attack on Oscar Dozier was described in ibid., p. 656.

12. For the attacks on streetcars, see Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 37, and TNIC, pp. 656–57. (NB: The latter book describes the weapon used to kill John Mills as a “scantling.”)

13. The ineffectiveness of the police was widely remarked upon in the press and later by the coroner’s jury. Stories that they “were all fixed and told to lay off on club members” come from TNIC, p. 12. The arrest of Joseph Scott as per ibid., p. 659.

14. The unusually aggressive self-defense of blacks in the riot was a recurrent theme in much of the press coverage, particularly in the black weeklies. The CDN of July 28 reported the crowd at Thirty-fifth and State as three hundred; Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 40, puts it at four thousand (admittedly, the crowds in this location grew throughout the evening). The rumored invasion of the Black Belt by “an army of whites” as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 40. The killing of Casmere Lazzeroni as described in TNIC, p. 663. Eugene Temple’s murder as described in ibid., p. 658.

15. The carloads of whites firing at random as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 40. Edward Dean Sullivan’s ordeal was described by him in his book Rattling the Cup on Chicago Crime, pp. 1–7.

16. The Angelus incident is most reliably described in TNIC, pp. 6, 661–62. The shooting went on for ten minutes according to the CD of August 2.

17. That the white gangs seemed to be focusing on the contested neighborhoods with black newcomers is emphasized by Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 41; Philpott, Slum and the Ghetto, p. 170; and TNIC, p. 6.

18. For the aldermen urging suspension of search-and-seizure laws, see the CEP of July 28. George Harding’s reassuring quotation after his tour of the riot zone was cited in the CDN of July 28.

19. The carefully worded text of Thompson’s telegram was reprinted in the CDT of July 29. TNIC, p. 41, breaks down the groups from the Illinois National Guard and those from the state’s reserve militia; both groups were typically referred to interchangeably as “the militia.”

20. Details about Sterling Morton’s experience come principally from two sources—a letter he wrote to his cousin, Wirt Morton, dated August 11, 1919, and a memoir, “The Illinois Reserve During World War I and After,” written decades later (both in the Sterling Morton Papers at the Chicago History Museum). The quote about the need for the militia being greater after the war is from the memoir, p. 5.

21. Morton’s history as per “Illinois Reserve During World War I and After,” pp. 5–7, his biography in the Sterling Morton Papers, Joy Sterling Morton’s entry in Ingham, Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders, and the Fifth Year Record: Class of 1906, Princeton (Princeton University Press, 1912). The story about choosing the Morton Salt girl comes from an anonymous article in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance (September 1959), p. 42.

22. The scene in the Loop as described in Morton’s letter of August 11 and “Illinois Reserve During World War I and After,” pp. 7–9.

23. “Get in my cab” is from Morton, “Illinois Reserve During World War I and After,” p. 8. “I saw sights that I never shall forget” is from the letter of August 11. Other details from the memoir, pp. 7–9.

24. “The South Side is a seething cauldron of hate” is from the CEP of July 28. The Horace Jennings episode was described in both Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 43, and TNIC, pp. 38–39.

25. The “grossly unfair” conduct of the police as per TNIC, p. 599. See also pp. 34–35. For any white person in uniform as a target, see the CDT of July 28.

26. Emily Frankenstein describes her father’s close call in her diary, p. 201. The man shot while eating dinner comes from the CDT of July 28. Lucius Harper described his harrowing experience in the CD of August 2.

27. The number of dead and wounded at the end of the second day of rioting as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 44. The results of the strike vote and the shutting down of the streetcar and elevated systems were ubiquitously reported.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: TUESDAY, JULY 29

1. “I stood up in a truck” and “Oh mother, here comes the lion’s cage” are from the CEP of July 29. “Never in the history of the city has such a condition prevailed” was quoted in the CDN of July 29. All of the other details in these paragraphs come from the same two papers.

2. The NYT of July 30 reported that half a million Chicago commuters stayed home. For the stockyards and municipal employees, see Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 44. “Snipers, white as well as black” is from the CEP of July 29. Edward W. Jackson’s death as per TNIC, pp. 658–59. The shooting of Parejko and Maminaki is from ibid., pp. 664–65. The absence of larger mobs on Tuesday was noted in the CDT of July 30. For the prowling group of twelve black soldiers, see the CDN of July 29. “This is the most serious problem that has ever confronted the police department in Chicago” was quoted in the CDJ of July 29.

3. Three officers and one sergeant in the Loop as per TNIC, pp. 36–38. For the cited incidents in the Loop, see ibid., pp. 19, 666.

4. “The race riots are spreading” is from Florence Lowden’s diary for July 29 (Pullman-Miller Family Papers). Calls for martial law as per the CDN of July 29.

5. Lowden’s abrupt return to Chicago was noted in the CDT and CDJ of July 29. “I cannot say who is responsible for this situation” was quoted in the CDN of July 29.

6. For Dickson’s upbeat assessment, see the CEP of July 29.

7. The joint news conference of the mayor and the governor was covered by all of the papers. The quotations in this section are as they were reported in the CDN and CDJ of July 29.

8. For the prison riot, I have relied most heavily on reports in the CEP and CDN (“Look here, I’m not going to give you more than a minute”) of July 29.

9. The sixty armed detectives around city hall as per the CDT of July 30. For the far-fetched rumors, see TNIC, p. 33, and White, “Causes of the Chicago Race Riot.” The CD story of the alleged murder of the black woman and her baby appeared in the August 2 edition.

10. For the press distortions, see especially West, “Press Coverage of Urban Violence, 1903–1967.” See also Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 47, and TNIC, p. 26, for discrepancies over the numbers of killed and wounded.

11. For police distortions (seventy-five police dead; “For God’s sake, arm [yourselves]”), see Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 48. TNIC, p. 35, compares the relative number of black and white arrests and casualties. The incident of the arrested and released light-skinned black man (“You’ll probably need this before the night is over”) is recounted in West, “Press Coverage of Urban Violence, 1903–1967,” p. 50.

12. For the North Side gunfight, see the CDT of July 30. Threats to household staff are from Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 50. TNIC, p. 659, reports on the death of Joseph Lovings and the newspapers’ exaggeration of it.

13. “While all sensible people” is a quote from Sterling, Black Foremothers, pp. 112–13. For Wells-Barnett’s other activities during the first days of the riot, see the CDT of July 30. Her letter (“Free Chicago stands today humble before the world”) appeared on the front page of the CDJ of July 29.

14. The Broad Ax accusation was reported in the NYT of July 30. The quotation from the CDN editorial appeared in the July 29 issue.

15. The CDJ of July 29 blamed the mayor and police for their failure to protect the city’s children. “We have other Fitzgeralds; we have other little Janet Wilkinsons” comes from an editorial in the CEP of July 29.

16. “Vast Throng Weeps at Slain Girl’s Bier” is from the CDN of July 29. Reverend Phelan’s and John Wilkinson’s quotations were reported in the CDJ of July 29.

17. Details of the funeral service and burial in this paragraph come from the CEP of July 29.

18. The CDN of July 29 wondered aloud how everyone had gotten to the Wilkinson funeral. Denial of strikebreaker rumors as per the CEP of July 29. “The fire will have to die out of the men” was quoted in the CDJ of July 29. “The compromise was liberal” as reported in the CDT of July 29. “The majority of our employees” as per the NYT of July 30.

19. The NYT of July 30 also reported that the plan was “hooted down.” The mayor’s quotations in this paragraph are from the CDT of July 29.

20. Strikers setting a streetcar on fire as per the CDN of July 29. For Hoyne’s meeting with Lowden, see Dobbert, “History of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919,” p. 62.

21. “Everyone cheered themselves hoarse,” “I did my best to put some pep into them,” and “For political reasons, we were kept in the armory” are from Morton’s August 11 letter to Wirt Morton (Sterling Morton Papers).

22. The spike in nonfatal shootings of police was reported in the CDT of July 30. For the shot-out streetlights, see Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 50. The CDT of July 30 reported on the Provident Hospital incident and the rise in arson.

23. “Our men are all ready” was quoted in the CEP of July 29. The late-night conference and the quotations from Thompson (“I am going to go home”) and Righeimer (“There are a half-dozen cases on record”) are from the CDT of July 30.

24. Sandburg’s report on the meeting of the Olivet Protective Association and his interview with George C. Hall appeared in that evening’s CDN of July 29. The text of the poem “Hoodlums” is from Sandburg, Complete Poems, p. 201. For Sandburg’s composition of this poem, see also Yanella, Other Carl Sandburg, p. 144.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: WEDNESDAY, JULY 30

1. Excerpts from Emily Frankenstein’s diary come from pp. 199–201 (Emily Frankenstein Papers).

2. Death toll by Wednesday morning as per the CHE of July 30. “Mayor Refuses Assent to Martial Law” is from the CDJ of July 30; “Storm Mayor with Demand for Troops to Quell Race Riots” is from the same day’s CDN.

3. For the appearance of the South Side, see the CDN of July 30. Police cordoning off the Black Belt as per the NYT of July 31. The July 30 CDT mentions the four hundred crossing guards, while the CSM of July 31 reports on the closing of many Loop businesses.

4. “Frank is living through the most anxious days of his life so far” is from Florence Lowden’s diary entry for July 30. Hoyne’s announcement of his request for martial law as per the CHE of July 31. “The troops are to be had for the asking” is quoted in the CDJ of July 30. “If we were to order out the militia for riot duty” is as recorded in the CEP of July 30.

5. The incident seen from Lowden’s window, with quotations, as reported in the NYT of July 31.

6. Ed Wright’s advice not to call in troops as per “Report on the Chicago Riot by an Eye-Witness,” p. 12, published in the Messenger of October 1919. The delegation of black leaders is described in the CDT of July 31; the second delegation (which included Darrow, Rosenwald, and Sandburg) comes from the CDJ of July 30.

7. Details of the city council meeting in these paragraphs, including all dialogue, come from the CDJ and CDN of July 30. For McDonough as Daley’s mentor (and for his prodigious weight), see Cohen and Taylor, American Pharaoh, p. 39.

8. Again, all details and dialogue in this section come from the July 30 CDJ and CDN, except for one exchange (“Don’t you believe the militia should supplement the police?”), which is rendered here as reported in the CHE of July 31. For the one thousand special policemen, see also Tuttle, Race Riot, pp. 51–53.

9. Hoyne’s statement about the “secret order of Negroes” as per the CDN of July 30. That day’s CDJ mentioned Brundage’s curtailed vacation in Michigan. Brundage’s statements in this paragraph as reported in the CDN of July 30.

10. The CDT editorial appeared in the July 29 edition. “That may be unconstitutional, but we should not waste time over details” was quoted in the CHE of July 30.

11. Thompson’s first quotation in this paragraph comes from the CDT of July 31. His second (“Yes, the situation is better”) is from the CEP of July 30. The third (“The rookie police are doing wonderfully well”) is from the CDT of July 31. The arrival of W. D. Mahon as reported in the CDN of July 30. Hopes that the cars would be running by Thursday were noted in the CDJ of July 30.

12. The coroner’s inquest report on the riot deaths was later published as a booklet (see Hoffman, Biennial Report 1918–1919 and Official Record, in bibliography). The inquest jurors’ trip through the South Side as per the CEP of July 30 and the CHE of July 31. “My people have no food” is quoted in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 54. The forbidden deliveries as per the NYT of July 30. Rumors of a full-scale invasion by Ragen’s Colts are mentioned in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 55.

13. “This Is Chicago’s Crisis” is from the CA of July 30, as cited in TNIC, p. 44. General Dickson’s assessment (“The condition is very grave”) is from the CHE of July 31.

14. Location of clashes, and the roaming white mobs, as per the NYT of July 31. The 112 fire alarms were reported in the CDT of July 31. Philpott, Slum and the Ghetto, pp. 173–74, describes the scene on Wells Street. For the late report and Thompson’s official request to Dickson, see the CSM and CDT of July 31, the latter of which printed the full text of the letter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN: THURSDAY, JULY 31

1. For the description of the militiamen heading out into the streets, I have relied on reports in the CDT and CDN of July 31. The contrast between the police and the militia are discussed in TNIC, p. 42. Using guns only as a last resort is as per Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 55.

2. For the Sterling Morton episode and all quotes therein, I have relied on the two unpublished documents in the collection of the Chicago History Museum (Sterling Morton Papers).

3. For other confrontations the nights of July 30–31, see the CDN of July 31. “You soldiers don’t know how glad we all are you are here” was quoted in the CDJ of July 31. For the truckloads of food sent into the Black Belt, see the CDN of July 31. “Thank God! We can’t stand up under this much longer” and “We are tickled to death to see you” were quoted in TNIC, p. 42.

4. For the free rein given the athletic clubs, see TNIC, p. 42, and Pacyga, “Chicago’s 1919 Race Riot,” p. 217. For the confrontation at the stockyards, see the CEP of July 31 and Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 57. Details of Dozier’s death are from TNIC, p. 667. “Peace has been established” was quoted in the CEP of July 31.

5. Thompson’s press conference at city hall was covered by all of the newspapers; the quotations in this section are as rendered in the CDJ of July 31 and the CHE of August 1.

6. The stretched cables across the street as per the NYT of August 1. For the pressure from the meatpacking companies, see Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 54. See also Pacyga, Chicago, p. 211.

7. The emergency city council meeting was also widely covered. I have used the quotations as they appeared in the CDJ of July 31 (“More policemen, more vehicle equipment,” etc., and “The finance committee has spent many nights”), the CDN of July 31 (“The crisis through which our city has passed”), and the CDT of August 1 (“It was claimed [that] Prohibition would reduce the need for police”).

8. For Hoyne’s promise of vigorous prosecution, see the NYT of July 31. “Why?” is from the CDJ of July 31, while “War in a Great City’s Streets” is from the same day’s CDN. “Chicago is disgraced and dishonored” is (famously) from the CDT of July 31.

9. “[Frank] is receiving great commendation” is from Florence Lowden’s diary entry for July 31. “I shudder to think what might have happened Tuesday” was quoted in the CDJ of July 31.

10. Mahon’s arrangement of a second strike vote as per the CEP of July 31.

11. For the ban on “promiscuous aviation,” see the CDN of July 31. The same day’s CDT reported on a plan to convert the epileptics’ hospital into “an institution for morons.” For the Chicago Plan ordinance signing, I have relied most heavily on the reports in the CDN of July 31 and the CDT of August 1.

CHAPTER TWENTY: THE MORNING AFTER

1. The CEP of August 2 carried details on the resumption of L and streetcar service.

2. For the sporadic violence on the South Side on Friday, see the CDN of August 1. “There is a quieter feeling in Chicago today” is from Florence Lowden’s diary for August 1 (Pullman-Miller Family Papers). The closing of gathering places in the riot zone and the suppression of the Chicago Whip as per the NYT of August 2. The CDT of August 3 reported on the thousand new deputy sheriffs. “I am greatly impressed with the complete mastery of the situation” was quoted in the CDN of August 1.

3. The Saturday morning fire was ubiquitously reported in the newspapers. Sterling Morton’s experience is related in his August 11 letter (“In twelve minutes I had the company loaded”) and in his memoir (“The residents were very excited”). (NB: In the memoir, written decades later, Morton puts the time of the alarm at 2:35 a.m., but the time given in his letter is more likely accurate.) Details about the “hundreds of scantily clad persons” are from the CEP of August 2.

4. For rumors about groups of black men using railroad torches, see the CDJ of August 2. For those about IWW radicals, see the CDT of August 3. For Poles hostile to their Lithuanian neighbors, see Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, pp. 99–100. For the ultimate attribution to white athletic clubs, see the CDN of August 2; see also Pacyga, “Chicago’s 1919 Race Riot,” p. 200, about the relative lack of involvement of eastern Europeans in the riot.

5. “The profiteering meat packers of Chicago are responsible” is quoted in Doreski, “Chicago, Race, and the Rhetoric of the 1919 Riot,” pp. 295–97. “The wealthy have their cellars full” is from John Fitzpatrick of the CFL, as quoted in Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 241. For the quotation about “the fact that the masses have forsaken God,” see the CDJ of July 31. “You Northern folks don’t know how to get along” was quoted in the CEP of August 1.

6. “U.S. Seeks Hand of Bolsheviki in Race Riots” was in the CDT of August 3. For Wells-Barnett’s testimony before the federal investigators, including her quotation, see the CDT of August 3 and her own Crusade for Justice, p. 406. For deeper background on postwar investigations into black radicalism by the DOJ’s Bureau of Investigation (as well as by the army’s Military Intelligence Division), see Kornweibel, Seeing Red. “America is known the world over as the land of the lyncher” is from the CD of August 2.

7. For Hoyne’s fulminations (“City Hall organization leaders, black and white, have catered to the vicious element”), see Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 252. For the editorial from Dziennik Chicagoski, see Pacyga’s Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago, p. 225.

8. Lowden’s big-picture analysis is as per articles in the NYT of August 3 and the CEP of August 4. For the formation of the biracial commission, see the NYT of August 2; Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, pp. 405–6; and Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 99. For the selection of Lawson and Rosenwald, see Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 258.

9. The article from the Memphis Commercial Appeal is quoted in Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, pp. 101–2. “Chicago’s Shame” was reprinted in the CDT of August 3. Wilson’s quotation (“a failure of the civic authorities”) was quoted in Bontemps and Conroy, Anyplace but Here, p. 183.

10. “The recent regrettable disorders in Chicago” is from the Republican of August 9.

11. For the Thompson administration’s outrage at the apparent quid pro quo of the transit compromise, and the conference with Ettelson, see the CEP and CDJ of August 2.

12. Lowden’s praise for Chicago’s “admirable patience” was quoted in the CEP of August 2. The details of his journey to Sinnissippi (“very tired, of course, but not as worn-out as I had feared”) are from Florence Lowden’s diary entry for August 2 (Pullman-Miller Family Papers).

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: TO THE LAST DITCH

1. Lowden’s return to the city as recorded in his wife’s diary for August 4. Cleveland’s official notice and other details about the Thompson administration’s response are from the CDJ and CEP of August 4, 5, and 6.

2. Thompson’s telegram as per the CDT of August 6. “Vicious public holdup,” “corporate cooties,” and “toadies” as quoted in Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 402. “Solemn contracts with the people” is from the Republican of August 16. “The people of Chicago may rest assured” was quoted in the CDT of August 8.

3. For Lowden’s response to the attacks, and subsequent petitions and court reversals, see Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, pp. 402–3. Cleveland’s announcement as per the CDT of August 9. The threat to impound fares and seize control of the lines as per the CDJ of August 16.

4. “When you pay seven cents today” and all other quotations in this paragraph are from the CDJ of August 8.

5. “It is futile for the people to expect representative government” was quoted in the CDJ of August 9.

6. Lowden’s condemnation of the plan as “state socialism” as per Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 403. “The present proposal is simply a bald-headed fraud” is quoted from a letter from Lawson to Charles H. Dennis dated September 20 (Victor F. Lawson Papers, series 1, box 89, folder 166).

7. For the sad history of Chicago’s quest to control its own transit system, see especially Young, Chicago Transit.

8. “All the shades of black” is from the CEP of August 8, as quoted in Waskow, From Race Riot to Sit-in, p. 45. For the jury “strike,” see Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 254 (“What the [hell] is the matter with the State’s Attorney?”) and the CDJ of August 16 (jury members’ threat to gather evidence on their own).

9. “The State’s Attorney will do his duty” was quoted in the CDJ of August 16. For the statements about the “large quantities of firearms, deadly weapons, and ammunition,” see the Literary Digest of August 9. For Hoyne’s raids in the Black Belt, see the CDN of August 23. “These raids are the beginning of revelations” was quoted in the CDJ of August 23.

10. “State’s Attorney Runs Amok” was in the CD of September 6. For Darrow and the NAACP, see Waskow, From Race Riot to Sit-in, pp. 48–50. The NAACP’s statement was quoted in the Cleveland Advocate of August 16. For the gathering at the Eighth Regiment Armory, see the CD of September 6. For Wells-Barnett’s response to the “storm-trooper” raids, see Crusade for Justice, p. 407, and Giddings, Ida, p. 602 (“[Hoyne] sends his hand-picked confederates”). For Hoffman’s and Peters’s objections, see the CDN of August 25. Brundage’s admission as per Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 405.

11. “We cannot dodge the fact that whites and blacks will not mix” was quoted in the CEP of July 31. For the letter from the Hyde Park–Kenwood Property Owners’ Association, see the CDT of August 6. “The sooner the Negro realizes” was in the CDN of August 2.

12. For the special city council meeting, with quoted wording of the resolution, I have relied mostly on the report in the CDT of August 6.

13. For Cotter’s and Thompson’s accusations against the governor, see Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 405. “Segregation measures are in the air” is from the November 15 issue of the Chicago Whip, quoted in Homel, Down from Equality, p. 21. Lowden’s approving mention of the “common understanding” idea is from the CDN of August 1.

14. For events at the stockyards and environs (“heavy guards about the L stations”), see the CDT of August 7. The job action by unionized white stockyards workers as per the CDT of August 8. For Thompson’s official letter and the end of the riot, see the CDJ of August 9 and Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 64.

15. Morton’s new commission and his quote (“I shudder to think”) are from his letter of August 11. The scene with Lowden and Dickson at city hall comes from the CDJ of August 9 and Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 64.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: “THROW AWAY YOUR HAMMER AND PICK UP A HORN!”

1. For the Sandburgs’ new house in Elmhurst, see Sandburg, Great and Glorious Romance, p. 276, and Niven, Carl Sandburg, pp. 342–45. “Why should I be the only poet of misery to be keeping out of debt?” is from a September 26 letter to Alice Corbin Henderson (Sandburg Papers). “We mustn’t let our anxiety” is quoted in Niven, Carl Sandburg, p. 345.

2. Details about the Lardners’ moving on come from Yardley, Ring, pp. 209, 221. Jane Addams’s speaking tour as per Davis, American Heroine, p. 260. For the Emma Simpson crime and trial, I have relied on various articles in the CDT dating from April 27 to October 3. Darrow’s quotation (“You’ve been asked to treat a man and a woman the same—but you can’t”) was cited in the CDT of September 26.

3. The story of Emily’s romance as per her diary (Emily Frankenstein Papers). (NB: Her diary says that she and Jerry reestablished contact on the second day of the riot; however, since she mentions that the streetcar strike was on that day, it was apparently the third day of the riot.)

4. For the subsequent bombings in 1919 and 1920, see Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 250. Thompson’s (temporary) revocation of the athletic club charters is discussed in Lindberg, Chicago by Gaslight, p. 209. Tuttle, Race Riot, p. 255, discusses the rumors of more riots.

5. For the Olivet Protective Association incident (“I rose and laid my membership card on the table”), see Wells-Barnett, Crusade for Justice, p. 407. Indictments and convictions in the riot cases as per TNIC, p. 48; see also Giddings, Ida, p. 622.

6. For background on the Red Scare and the Palmer raids, see especially Kornweibel, Seeing Red, as well as Murray, Red Scare.

7. The most popular work on the Black Sox scandal is Asinof, Eight Men Out. For Lardner’s role in the episode, I have relied mostly on Yardley, Ring, pp. 211–18.

8. Fitzgerald’s journey through the criminal justice system as per articles in the CDT, CDN, and CDJ of August 4, August 18, and September 23 (“as in a daze” and “If you have any idea the court will not inflict the death penalty”). The courtroom filled with “morbidly curious men and women,” and the sentencing scene that follows, with quotations, are from the CDT of September 24.

9. For the episodes leading up to Fitzgerald’s execution, I have relied on reports in the CDT of October 5, 14, 17, and 18.

10. For Thompson’s peaking popularity, see Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, pp. 88–91. For the Boom Chicago campaign, see Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, pp. 108–10, and Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 176–77.

11. For one of the special newspaper supplements, see the CEP of August 30; see also Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, pp. 85–88. The Burnham remark (“Beauty has always paid better than any other commodity and always will”) was quoted in Bachin, Building the South Side, p. 171. For the passing of the bond issues, see Smith, Plan of Chicago, p. 124, and Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 88. The Bukowski quotation about concrete is from his essay in Green and Holli, Mayors, p. 80.

12. For the school board controversy and other distracting issues, see Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 175ff, and Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 105ff. Bukowski, ibid., p. 185, is especially good on the real meaning behind Thompson’s tirades against King George and the war profiteers.

13. For Thompson’s success at getting money for his municipal ownership study, see the Twenty-fifth Annual Preliminary Report (1920) of the Municipal Voters’ League (Chicago History Museum). The Defender’s praise of the elevation of Ed Wright appeared in the CD of December 27.

14. For the extent of Thompson’s predominance in the fall of 1919, see the CDT of September 30. The quotation about Lundin’s push for a “vise-like” grip on the county and state is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 166. For the targeting of Lowden, see Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 92.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE SMOKE-FILLED ROOM

1. Much has been written about the 1920 Republican National Convention. In addition to works already cited (especially Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois; Stuart, 20 Incredible Years; and Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago), I have relied most heavily on Pietrusza, 1920, and Sullivan’s Our Times, along with Dean’s respectful Warren G. Harding and Anthony’s gossipy Florence Harding. See Pietrusza, 1920, pp. 219–21, for the shifting delegate votes. Both the Ferber and the Mencken quotations are from ibid., pp. 205 and 206, respectively.

2. For the Lowden “steamroller,” see the NYT of June 11, 1920. For General Wood’s lack of second-choice support, see Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 458.

3. For Lowden’s early hopes for Thompson’s support, see Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 411.

4. For early hints that Thompson would work against Lowden’s nomination, see an interview with the mayor in the NYT of December 13. Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 442, talks about the issues Thompson raised against Lowden, and the latter’s liability in being married to the daughter of a great capitalist.

5. For primary results and Thompson’s control of seventeen Illinois delegates, see especially Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 179–80.

6. The Lowden finance scandal is most completely discussed in Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 453ff. The quotation is from ibid., p. 455.

7. Big Bill’s bad-mouthing of Lowden (“His word’s no good”) is from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 182–83.

8. Thompson’s dramatic public scene as per ibid., p. 183. “It is my opinion that if the delegates to the Republican State Convention had known” is quoted in the NYT of June 11, 1920.

9. The CA story—under the blaring headline “Mayor Bolts Republican Party: Refuses to Aid in Sale of Presidency”—appeared in a June 12, 1920, special extra edition. For the ordering of a “wagonload” of newspapers, the instructions to the woman in the pink dress (“Don’t let anyone stop you”), and the “dazzling smile” quotation, see Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, pp. 100–104.

10. The timing of Henry Cabot Lodge’s receipt of the newspaper as per Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 103.

11. “In a smoke-filled room at the Blackstone Hotel” is from Ferber’s memoir, Peculiar Treasure, p. 251. Dean, Warren G. Harding, and especially Pietrusza, 1920, p. 226, express doubts about the traditional explanation of the choice of Harding as the result of a conspiracy among a few powerful men. For Lowden’s release of his delegates, see the NYT of June 13, 1920. Dean, Warren G. Harding, p. 67, quotes the same paper’s characterization of Harding as “a very respectable Ohio politician of the second class.” Mencken’s more biting description (“of the intellectual grade of an aging cockroach”) is cited in Pietrusza, 1920, p. 235.

12. Florence Lowden and her daughter Florence Lowden Miller were inveterate diarists. Their many volumes of journals are all in the Pullman-Miller Family Papers at the Chicago History Museum. Quotations here are from the entries of June 12 and 13, 1920.

13. “With bowed head [and] cries of ‘bought delegates’ and ‘steamroller’ in his ears” is a quotation from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 165. “Of course, while the contest was on, I wanted to win” is from a letter from Lowden to Lucius Teter dated June 24, 1920 (Julius Rosenwald Papers, series 1, box 24, folder 13). “We are very tired” is from Florence Lowden’s diary entries for June 13 and 14, 1920.

14. “Bill Thompson exulted” is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 165. For the Edward Dunne quotation, see Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 107. (NB: It should be mentioned, however, that Mark Sullivan, who was an eyewitness to the convention, does not even name Thompson in his account of the event.) “What a great President he would have been!” is from Morton, “Illinois Reserve During World War I and After,” p. 5.

15. Lowden’s retirement announcement as per the CDT of June 30, 1920. For Lowden’s later career and his subsequent failure to hold any other elective office, see Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, pp. 570–601.

16. For Thompson and Lundin’s ambitious agenda in the November 1920 elections, see Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 184. Lowden’s quotation (“Thompson has developed a machine”) was cited in the NYT of July 18, 1920.

17. “I never did understand the politics of that town” is quoted in Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 118. “A ferret-faced Kankakee banker” is from Smith, Colonel, p. 241. For Lundin’s control of thirty-eight thousand offices and a $78 million payroll, see a memoir by Robert R. McCormick about Lundin (Robert R. McCormick Papers, I-63, box 20) and Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson.

18. For the victory celebrations on election night, with quotations, see Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 166, and Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 188–90.

EPILOGUE: THE TWO CHICAGOS

1. The opening of the Michigan Avenue Bridge was covered by all of the newspapers, but my account relies most heavily on an eyewitness account in Williamson, I Met an American. “The greatest event since the World’s Fair in 1893” is from Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, pp. 167–68. Thompson’s expression of “gravity and pleased emotion” as per Williamson, I Met an American, p. 50. Quote from Thompson’s speech as per Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 110.

2. Accounts of gangland Chicago in the 1920s—particularly anything having to do with Al Capone—must be regarded with extreme skepticism. A lot of colorful apocrypha has accumulated around those storied years, and much of it gets repeated from book to book as if it were gospel truth. The detail about the three photos on Capone’s wall, for instance, was attested to by a single, not-particularly-disinterested witness, but has been uncritically repeated by historians for the better part of a century (which is why I phrase my sentence about that detail with caution). Bergreen, Capone, is probably the most reliable account of those years.

3. Information on the later lives of Lardner, Addams, and Sandburg is from Yardley, Ring; Davis, American Heroine; and Niven, Carl Sandburg, respectively. Edmund Wilson’s characterization of Sandburg’s Lincoln biography (“the cruelest thing that has happened to Lincoln since he was shot by Booth”) was cited in Niven, Carl Sandburg, p. 635.

4. Wells-Barnett’s own account of the closing of the Negro Fellowship League is in her Crusade for Justice, p. 414. Drake and Cayton, Black Metropolis, p. 69, and Kellogg, NAACP, p. 238, both discuss the new awareness of the “Negro problem” among whites. For the settlement house progressives’ reaction to the riot, see Philpott, Slum and the Ghetto, pp. 273–75. “Conditions in the states had not changed” is from Haywood, Black Bolshevik, p. 2. See Philpott, Slum and the Ghetto, p. 130, for the city’s increasing level of segregation. Other late-life details for Wells-Barnett are from Giddings, Ida, pp. 603, 646–47, and 652.

5. Jack Boettner’s later career, including the Graf Zeppelin episode, comes from Glassman, Jump!, pp. 45–46. Goodyear’s decision to use helium rather than hydrogen as per Young, Chicago Aviation, p. 20. Information about Sterling Morton’s later life comes principally from the CDT of May 5, 1921 (Caroline’s death) and Morton’s obituary in the NYT of February 25, 1961. “I am indeed proud” is from “Illinois Reserve During World War I and After,” p. 3.

6. Details of the denouement of Emily Frankenstein’s romance with Jerry Lapiner are from her diary entries for late 1919 and 1920. Her letter to the Tribune about the Apollo moon mission appeared in the CDT of December 15, 1969.

7. For Hoyne’s misadventures in private life, see the CDT of January 21, 1925, and February 19, 1939. Merriam quit trying for elective office, but did later serve as an adviser to Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt. Crowe’s threat to buy Lawson “a railroad ticket to the penitentiary at Joliet” is from Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 188. Dennis, Victor Lawson, pp. 449–50, outlines Lawson’s contribution to modern newspaper journalism.

8. For McCormick’s quest to tie Big Bill to the German secret service, see his letters to Arthur Henning and to Parke Browne, both dated May 10, 1920 (Robert R. McCormick Papers). The Ahab quote is from Smith, Colonel, p. 240. For Thompson’s assassination accusation, see O’Reilly, “Colonel Robert Rutherford McCormick, His Tribune, and Mayor William Hale Thompson,” p. 89. “The people of Illinois have no enthusiasm for Thompsonism, and less for the Tribune” is from O’Brien, “Illinois,” p. 118.

9. For the end of Lundin’s invincibility, see Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, p. 179–98, and Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 196–98. “My friends have crucified me!” is quoted in ibid., p. 208. “What a change in two years” is from Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 177.

10. For Lowden as a refuser of nominations and appointments, see Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois, p. 536ff. The quotation about the “worst elements of the party” is cited in a footnote in ibid., p. 470. Stuart, 20 Incredible Years, p. 108, believes that Lowden’s cooperation would have led to the achievement of Lundin’s goals.

11. See the previously cited Thompson biographies for his later career. (NB: Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, p. 149, regards Dever’s well-meaning mayoralty as “a disaster.”) “I’m as wet as the Atlantic Ocean” is ubiquitously cited. For Big Bill’s nervous breakdown, see Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, pp. 312–13. I am somewhat skeptical of Thompson’s cash-stuffed safe-deposit boxes as definitive proof of his venality. Some writers make much of his more than $2 million estate but seem to forget that he inherited a large fortune upon his father’s death. And even some of Thompson’s enemies claimed that Big Bill often steered ill-gotten money to his friends but rarely to himself.

12. It is, of course, debatable how much credit Thompson can legitimately be given for the many public works completed during his administrations. In my experience, however, too many historians seem to have no trouble giving credit to leaders they admire, while at the same time being reluctant to give any credit at all to leaders they don’t.

NOTES

PROLOGUE: THE BURNING HIVE